Display package

ABSTRACT

A carton for holding a filled pouch having overlying panels along one side of a base panel with part of the pouch positioned therebetween so that the pouch can be opened upon tearing away of portions of the overlying panels; other portions of the overlying panels remain attached to the carton to provide for effective reclosure of the pouch after part of its contents have been withdrawn.

United States Patent Inventor Robert A. Krzyzanowski Milwaukee, Wis. Appl. No. 842,628 Filed July 17, 1969 Patented Jan. 19, 1971 Assignee Milprint, Inc.

Milwaukee, Wis. a corporation of Delaware DISPLAY PACKAGE 2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 206/56, 229/51, 229/66 Int. Cl B6Sd 5/54, B65d 5/70, B65d 83/00 Field of Search 206/80,

80A, 79, 78, 78B, 46(Food), 56A2, 57; 229/5l(RC), 62, 66; 222/107 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,114,643 12/1963 Boston et al. ..206/56(A2)UX 3,215,333 11/1965 Stelzer 206/78(BUX) 3,224,640 12/ 1 965 Schneider et al. 229/62 3,278,085 10/1966 Brown 222/107 3,333,690 8/1967 Marsh 206/57(A) 3,392,901 7/1968 Krzyzanowski 229/5 1 (RC) 3,482,758 12/1969 LaPierre et al. 206/56(A2) Primary Examiner-William T. Dixson, Jr. Attorneys-Donald G. Casser and Adrian L. Bateman, Jr.

ABSTRACT: A carton for holding a filled pouch having overlying panels alorig one side of a base panel with part of the pouch positioned therebetween so that the pouch can be opened upon tearing away of portions of the overlying panels; other portions of the overlying panels remain attached to the carton to provide for effective reclosure of the pouch after part of its contents have been withdrawn.

.PATENIEDJAMQIQII 3556292 sum 1 UF 2 INVENTOR ROBERT A- KRZYZANOWSKI ATTORNEY PATENTEDJANISIQH v 3.556; 292

,sumaurz I INVENTOR ROBERT A. KRZYZANOWSKI BY add/41V ATTORNEY l msrLAv PACKAGE BACKGROUND or THE INVENTION pouch is in some fashion'attached or otherwise joined to the outer carton or, in some instances, a board member: Such combination. packages are often. used for the packaging of meat, particularly slices of cold meat. Most combination packages of this type have a common defect in that they lack effective means-for providing a satisfactory reclosure of the inner'pouch after a portion of itscontents have been removed and it is desired to retain the pouch in the canon in order to preserve the remaining packaged'material. 'With' the prior art packages, it has either been impossible to reclosethe inner pouch after it has been initially opened or extremelycumbersome to effect any type of such reclosure.

f SUMMARY or THE uvsurion My present invention provides a carton for the display and packaging of a filled pouch of flexible film material in which the carton includes panels constructed along one side of a base panel on which a filled pouch is to be carried. The overlying panels include meansfor opening the pouch portion which is'positionedtherebetween and, further, in accordance with the present invention, include means of a suitable configuration to enable reclosure of the inner pouch afterremoval of part of its contents. This reclosure is provided .for in an effective manner in which there is a I80? fold placed in the opened pouch to give maximum protection for the'remaining contents thereof. My present carton has a furtheradvantage in that the easy opening and facile reclosure features are obtained through the use of a minimum amount of carton material. Still further, the display package of my present invention has an important merchandising advantage in that it creates the appearance of a blister or shrink package but has reclosure features not obtainable with such packages or only obtainable at a substantially higher cost factor. The carton of the present invention is useful for the packaging of food items such as cold meat, bacon, etc. andnonfood items such as hardware, toys, etc. and may be utilized for the packaging of any desired type of commodity or goods.

A principle object of the presentinvention is to provide a carton for the packaging of a pouch of flexible film material which has the dual features of attractive display of the pouch more specific object is to provide the particular improved carton constructions as hereinafter specifically claimed.

DESCRIPTION OF rue DRAWINGS FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a completed composite package utilizing a carton erected from the blank of FIG. I and the filled pouchof FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the composite carton of FIG.'

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The blank 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a base panel 2 having side flaps 3, 4 and 5 joined to three of its sides along fold lines as illustrated in the drawings. Side flaps 3 and 5 include a strip 6 of adhesive for the'purpose hereinafterdiscussed. A first side panel 7 is connected to the fourth side of the base panel along a fold line v8 and a second side panel 9 is connected'to the first side panel 7 along a fold' line'l0, the fold lines 8 and 10 being parallel with one another. The blank I is made of any suitable carton material such as cardboard, paperboard, plastic, etc., it may be 'uncoated or coated with functional coatings such'as a heat seal coating, barrier coating, etc.

A tear line I], which is shown as comprising a set of spaced generally L-shaped slits lla, divides the first side panel 7 into panel I2 and panel 13. The tear line ll may be of any suitable construction, such as hook-shaped slits, straight slits, etc. which will enable tearing of the first side panel along the tear line. A hanger tab 14 is defined in the panel 13 by means of spaced side slits l5 and 16 which extend from the fold line 10 and terminate along the region of the tear line 11 where they are. connected together along an end slit 17. A hole 18 is formed centrally of the tab 14.

A tear line 20, which may be of the same configuration as the tear line 11, extends across the second sidepanel 9 and is spaced from the fold line 10 to define panel 21 which is of the same width as panel 13 of the first side panel. On the opposite side of the tear line 20, a fold line 22 is spacedfrom the tear line and runs parallel thereto to form panel 23 and extension flap 24. A locking tab 25 is defined within the region of the tear line 20 by means of spaced side slits 26 and 27 connected by end slit 28, said slits extending through the thickness of the material from which the blank 1 is made. The end portion of the locking tab 25, i.e. that part along the end slit 28, extends towards the base panel 2. The tear lines 11 and 20 may include a notch 29 along one of their ends to facilitate initiation of tearing of the carton therealong.

To complete the blank as shown in FIG. 1, a slit 30 is defined in the base panel 2 alongside but spaced from the fold line 8 and may be of any suitable configuration such as the generally U-shaped shown in the drawing.

The various fold lines, slits and perforated lines can be formed in the blank by any suitable creasing, scoring, cutting or perforating mechanisms conventionally used in the con-' verting art. The blanks can be stacked and stored in a flat condition until such time as they are to be erected into carton A presently preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in the drawings which are meant to illustrate, not limit, the present invention, inasmucli'a's it is anticipated that changes can be made in the illustrated embodiment which will remain within the true spirit and scope of the present invention. In the drawings:

FIG. I is a plan view of a carton blank in accordance with the present invention; 1 7

FIG. 2 illustrates a filled pouch to be used in conjunction with a canon according to FIG. I;

form, which can be done either manually or mechanically.

FIG. 2 illustrates an inner package of a type suitable for use with the carton blank shown in FIG. I. A pouch 35 formed of two sheets 35a and 35b of film joined together along marginal seams 36 encloses a stack 37 of sliced meat. Any food or nonfood commodity may be packaged in pouches of the general type exemplified by the pouch 35. The pouch 35 may be formed of two sheets marginally heat sealed together or from a single sheet folded upon itself and then heat sealed to form the inner package, or two films adhesively joined together, and it may have a configuration other than that illustrated in FIG. 2. Regardless of its specific construction, the pouch includes a marginal or peripheral flange 38 which surrounds a commodiscalable or has a heat seal coating on at least one of its surfaces. and it may be made from a single layer monofilm or a films would include polyethylene, polypropylene, saran, cellophane, glassine, paper, metal foil and other plastic or non- .plastic films. In general, where the usual flexible packaging film is employed, it will be from one-half to mils thick depending upon the nature of the commodity packaged.

A composite package 45 formed by combining a carton erected from the blank 1 and the pouch 35 is shown in FIG. 3. To form the package 45, the pouch 35 is placed on the base panel 2 of the blank 1, and the side flap 4 is folded over a portion of the peripheral flange 38 of the pouch. At the opposite side of the carton, the second side panel 9 is folded along fold line 10 to overly the first side panel 7 with the tear lines 1 1 and in registry with one another, in this condition, panel 21 of the second side panel 9 overlies panel 13 of the first side panel 7, and panel 23 of the second side panel overlies panel 12 of the first side panel. The extension flap 24 extends over the panel 2 of the carton and above a portion of the peripheral flange of the pouch 35 placed thereon. Another portionof the peripheral flange 38 extends underneath and between the overlying tearlines 11 and 20, which tear lines should extend across the commodity compartment 39 of the pouch for the purpose discussed below.

To complete the composite package 45, the side flaps 3 and 5 are folded over portions of the peripheral flange of the inner pouch 35 and also extend over the ends of the side flap 4 and extension flap 24. When placed in such condition, the strips 6 of adhesive are activated so as to adhere the flaps 3 and 5 to flange portions of the inner pouch 35 and end portions of the flaps 4 and 24. For this purpose the strip 6 of adhesive is preferably a heat sealable adhesive, i.e. one which is activated by the application of heat and pressure, although other types of adhesive also can be used. In this fashion the pouch is firmly retained inthe carton. As noted in FIG. 3 the packaged product 37 in the pouch 35 projects from the base panel of the cartonblank and is given a framed" appearance by reason of the several side flaps extending around its peripheral flange so that the package looks like a so-called blister" package but is made at. a much lower cost. For further enhancement of the display of the carton, the hanger tab 14 can be separated from its panel 13 along the slit lines 15, 16 and 17 to the upright position illustrated in FIG. 3 so that the package can be hung from a'hanger to display the unit.

An intermediate step in the opening of the composite package 45 is illustrated in FIG. 4. The user grasps the overlying panels 13 and 21 and simultaneously tears the first side panel 7 and second side panel 9 along the registered tear lines 11 and- 20 to separate the panels 13 and 21 from the remainder of the carton structure. The tear lines 11 and 20 extend across the commodity compartment 39 of the pouch 35 so that when the pouch wall material is torn along with tearing of the carton panels the pouch is opened and the user can withdraw all or part of the material or commodity packaged in the pouch. A section 35c of the pouch is shown in FIG. 4 as being carried away with the separation of the carton along the tear lines. A rear view of the opened carton package is illustrated in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 shows reclosure of the package after part of the contents have been removed from the inner pouch 35. Briefly, the locking tab 25 is swung into position so as to engage the slit formed in the base panel 2 of the carton. To accomplish this, the panels 12 and 23 are folded rearwardly about fold lines 8 and 22, respectively, so that the locking tab 25 will be in a proper position to engage the slit 30. As will be noted in FIG. 6, this rearward folding action of the panels 12 and 23 causes a 180 fold to be formed in the walls 350 and b of the pouch 35; further, these walls are bent about the edge formed by the 'panel 12 and an edge portion of the base panel 2. This complete folding, or 180 bend, placed in the pouch will material forms an efficient: and effective reclosure of the pouch, thereby giving protection to the remaining contents;

this provides the maximum possible protection of the contents in the absence of actually joining together the walls of the pouch 35, which would be impractical in most instances. As an alternate'feature, when theca'rton is opened in the manner shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 above, th'e panel 12 of the first side panel 7 can be detached from th'e base pa'nel along the fold line 8, for which purpose the fold line'8 is shown as including a line of perforations. In some instancesjremoval of this panel will facilitate reclosure of the carton.

There has thus been provided a display package for a pouch made of flexible film which provides (a) attractive display of the packaged merchandise, (b) easy-opening of the filled pouch, and (c) effective reclosure of the pouch after part of its contents have been withdrawn. These advantages are obtained with a carton construction that uses a minimum of carton material through the provision of panels along a side of a carton base panel which are adapted to be folded over each other with part of the pouch between them, the panels being of a shape that will require as little material aspossible.

lclairn: A 1.A.carton blank for erectionint oa carton for the display of a pouch of the type having a peripheral-flange surrounding a commodity compartment, saidcarton blank comprising in combination: 1

1. a base panel on which the pouch is to be placed;

2. a first side panel connected along a first fold line to one side of the base panel; and I I a. a first tear line extending across the firstside panel;

. a second side panel connected along a second fold line to the first side panel; l f 1' l a. a second tear line extending across the second side panel and arranged parallel to the first tear line; and

b. a third fold line extending across the second side panel parallel to the first and second fold lines and spaced from the second tear line to define an extension flap;

4. the second side panel being adapted to be folded about the second fold line to overlie the first side panel, with the second tear line in registry with the first tear line and with the extension flap overlying the base panel;

5. a slit formed in the base panel and a locking tab formed in the second side panel, the locking tab being adapted for engagement with said slit.

. A composite package comprising, in combination:

a pouch having a peripheral flange surrounding a compartment containing packaged commodity;

2. a carton having a base panel on which the pouch is placed, the carton including: a. a first side panel connected along a first fold line to one side of the base panel, and a first tear line extending across the first side panel;

b. a second side panel connected along a second fold line to the first side panel, a second tear line extending across the second side panel, and arranged parallel to the first tear line, and a third fold line extending across the second side panel'parallel to the first and second fold lines and spaced from the second tear line to define an extension flap;

. the second side panel being folded over the first side panel with part of the peripheral flange of the pouch therebetween and with the first and second tcar lines in registry with each other and extending across the compartment of the pouch, so that the compartment of the pouch is opened upon separation of the said side panels along the said tear lines;

4. a slit formed in the base panel and a locking tab formed in the second side panel, the locking tab being adapted for engagement with said slit. 

1. A carton blank for erection into a carton for the display of a pouch of the type having a peripheral flange surrounding a commodity compartment, said carton blank comprising in combination:
 1. a base panel on which the pouch is to be placed;
 2. a first side panel connected along a first fold line to one side of the base panel; and a. a first tear line extending across the first side panel;
 3. a second side panel connected along a second fold line to the first side panel; a. a second tear line extending across the second side panel and arranged parallel to the first tear line; and b. a third fold line extending across the second side panel parallel to the first and second fold lines and spaced from the second tear line to define an extension flap;
 4. the second side panel being adapted to be folded about the second fold line to overlie the first side panel, with the second tear line in registry with the first tear line and with the extension flap overlying the base panel;
 5. a slit forMed in the base panel and a locking tab formed in the second side panel, the locking tab being adapted for engagement with said slit.
 2. a first side panel connected along a first fold line to one side of the base panel; and a. a first tear line extending across the first side panel;
 2. A composite package comprising, in combination:
 2. a carton having a base panel on which the pouch is placed, the carton including: a. a first side panel connected along a first fold line to one side of the base panel, and a first tear line extending across the first side panel; b. a second side panel connected along a second fold line to the first side panel, a second tear line extending across the second side panel, and arranged parallel to the first tear line, and a third fold line extending across the second side panel parallel to the first and second fold lines and spaced from the second tear line to define an extension flap;
 3. the second side panel being folded over the first side panel with part of the peripheral flange of the pouch therebetween and with the first and second tear lines in registry with each other and extending across the compartment of the pouch, so that the compartment of the pouch is opened upon separation of the said side panels along the said tear lines;
 3. a second side panel connected along a second fold line to the first side panel; a. a second tear line extending across the second side panel and arranged parallel to the first tear line; and b. a third fold line extending across the second side panel parallel to the first and second fold lines and spaced from the second tear line to define an extension flap;
 4. the second side panel being adapted to be folded about the second fold line to overlie the first side panel, with the second tear line in registry with the first tear line and with the extension flap overlying the base panel;
 4. a slit formed in the base panel and a locking tab formed in the second side panel, the locking tab being adapted for engagement with said slit.
 5. a slit forMed in the base panel and a locking tab formed in the second side panel, the locking tab being adapted for engagement with said slit. 